If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now, it’s just native habitat and an ancient permaculture ecosystem almost completely wiped from Europe after World War II that’s perfectly suitable here.
gardening
Witch hazel: Useful native species adds pop of winter color
If you’ve ever been in the woods this time of year and noticed a sweet fragrance but couldn’t pinpoint it, you’re not having olfactory hallucinations — this aromatic wonder grows right here in North Carolina.
The dirt on pH: No chemistry PhD required for gardening
Knowing your soil’s alkalinity and the conditions your desired plants need can help yield better results.
Autumn’s spectacular colors signal our natural connections
Our modern lives often make us feel disconnected from nature, but even if we don’t think we notice, evolution has ensured that our bodies remember the changing seasons.
October therapy: Grow your own ‘Little Shop of Horrors’
As Halloween nears, garden centers stock up on Venus flytraps, and a gardener of any skill level can attempt to cultivate their own tiny Audrey II.
Nuts about figs? These edible, inverted flowers thrive here
There’s something about figs, the fruit that’s actually not, and the easy-to-propagate tree that — like so many of us — simply loves life on the North Carolina coast.
Coastal fall gardening a challenge; can still yield rewards
Autumn is starting to signal its arrival, and while spring planting gets all the attention, this region offers two growing seasons with the promise of success, despite pests and problems unique to the coast.
Indigenous tobacco from ancient seeds: History comes alive
Tobacco was once an important cash crop in the South, but much longer ago, the Cherokee valued it too and meticulously saved their seeds, including some a spelunker found in a cave 2,000 years later.
Garden tips everyone in coastal North Carolina should know
Barbara W. Ellis’ new book “Container & Small-Space Gardening for the South: How to Grow Flowers & Food No Matter Where You Live,” offers guidance that can help gardeners challenged by even the sandiest coastal soils.
Explore Native Plants with Master Gardeners
Carteret County Master Gardeners Feb. 12 will be “Exploring Native Coastal Plants of the Carolinas” with Paul Hosier, professor emeritus of botany at UNCW, at the Crystal Coast Civic Center.
